1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention relate to the field of microprocessors, and more specifically, to on-die monitoring.
2. Description of Related Art
As microprocessor architecture becomes more and more complex to support high performance applications, circuit design of high frequency devices has become a challenge. To facilitate the testing and verification of circuits, it is useful to be able to observe or monitor switching phenomena in the presence of alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) noises.
Existing techniques to address the problem of device monitoring have a number of disadvantages. One technique calls for probing the device by inserting probes at various test points. This technique is intrusive because it requires the device to be opened and exposed to the environment. It is tedious, cumbersome, and not flexible to accommodate different device processes. Other techniques may provide signals indicating if a certain threshold has been exceeded. These techniques do not provide useful information regarding the nature of the problem and the quantification of the parameters of interest.